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sofiarodriguez's review
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.0
This is a beautiful collection of poetry that has amazing overarching themes. The imagery and language used are very reminiscent of lê thi diem thúy's "The Gangster We Are All Looking For." As an immigrant myself, I related to a lot of the overarching themes and feelings of both loss and being an outsider. This book uses a lot of dense imagery and leaves a lot to the imagination while still creating a cohesive narrative. I quite enjoyed how the different poetic structures were interchanged a lot because it kept me engaged as a reader. Although I believe overall a lot of the poems' theme's truly resonated with me, I was not attached or left with the memory of one specific image. (In short, many of the images weren't memorable. I believe this would be a lot more effective if there were fewer overall motifs and symbols. My only other critique is that in poems (such as in Inventory, You Google Vietnam, and Suzi as a Series of Questions) the beginnings of the poems didn't naturally transition to the overall point of the poem. The first few lines often felt out of place. Otherwise, I enjoyed the rich complexities and the web of ideas Dear Diaspora created.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism
Minor: Sexual assault
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